Encyclopedia Dubuque
"Encyclopedia Dubuque is the online authority for all things Dubuque, written by the people who know the city best.”
Marshall Cohen—researcher and producer, CNN
Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
MURPHY, Richard Louis
MURPHY, Richard Louis. (Dubuque, IA, Nov. 6, 1875—Chippewa Falls, WI, July 16, 1936). Iowa Senator. Murphy, a delegate to the 1920 Democratic National Convention in San Francisco, served as a United States Senator until his untimely death in an automobile accident.
Murphy was city editor of the TELEGRAPH HERALD from 1892 until 1902. Upon the death of his editor father, John Stanford MURPHY, he assumed the position of editor. Murphy served on the Dubuque County Library Board from 1909 through 1914 and collected internal revenue taxes from 1913 to 1920 when he became an income tax counselor, a position he held until 1931.
President Franklin Roosevelt stopped in Dubuque to pay special tribute to Murphy soon after the senator's death. An area on the southern boundary of the city was named MURPHY PARK in his honor.